SignControlDocumentation
Advanced

Documentation

Copyright 2014 - Vodality, LLC.

LGPL License Page
Internal SD Card Help

SignControl Advanced has been tested and is supported with the following browsers:

  • Firefox: on Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Android
  • Chrome: on Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Android
  • Safari: on Mac OS X 10.9+, iOS 8+
  • Internet Explorer 11: on Windows 7, Windows 8.1

SignControl Advanced uses HTML5 Canvas, so it is not supported on IE8 or earlier, nor on Opera.

Using HTML5 technologies only, no plugins are required to use the software on this website.

See also Basic Instrutions for non-signcontrol mode. Non-SignControl method involves using a USB stick to update the signs, and requires knowing how to write the configuration files correctly. SignControl.net does this process for you, but requires an internet connection.

Instructions on how to use the SignControl Advanced Website

SignControl Advanced constists of several independent sections. When you first log on, you will be in what is called the Dashboard. To get back to the Dashboard from any screen, just click 'Dashboard' at the top left of each screen.

Using the Dashboard

In the Dashboard, you will see three columns: Your Signs, Your Schedules, and Your Presentations. These can be mixed and matched and are independent of each other. To create any of these three items, just click 'Create New' and then enter a unique name for that item. To delete any of these items, just click the read X next to the item in the column.

You can create a signs, schedules, and presentations by entering a name consisting of letters, numbers, and spaces with a maximum length of 14 characters in the text field on that page and clicking the button, "Create".

You then should see the signname, schedule, or presentation you created in the List of Your Signs, Your Schedules, or Your Presentations when the page returns you to the Dashboard.

Basically, once you have a schedule copied to your sign and presentations assigned to each of the slots of your sign's schedule, then you can enter that sign name, along with your username, into a device and push play, and it will download all your data and play all your presentations according to your schedule. Every 2 minutes, the device will check for chnages to your online data, and download any changes.

With firmware version _246, you can also specify the server field, which defaults to "www.signcontrol.net". You would use this field if you were using SignControl not on the signcontrol.net server, but on a different server. What you enter into all these fields is described in the Dashboard home page you arrive at when you log into SignControl.

Schedule Configuration

When the midddle column in the Dashboard has the title, 'Your Schedules', it is showing all your template schedules. To copy a Schedule to a Sign, first you click on an Existing Schedule. An existing Schedule is one that has been edited and saved. It will say "Exists" next to it if it exists. Before you save your Presentation, be sure to have included at least one slot, and this slot should have a time span in the Schedule. You click on an Existing Schedule by clicking the "Exists" field next to its name. Then you click on a Sign name that you wish to copy the Schedule to. If the field next to the Sign said "Empty", it will change to say "Slots". Clicking on "Slots" will change the middle column from showing all the Schedules templates to showing all the Slots within a Sign's Schedule. Then, you are to assign a published Presentation to each slot. You do so by clicking "Published" next to each Presentation, following by clicking the Slot that you wish to assign it to.

When editing a Schedule, whether a template or a sign's copy, notice the Save button at the top of the screen. It is important to click this to save changes, or else they will disappear when you leave the screen.

In the Schedule Editor, there are two important things to note: The grid of time and week days, and the Slots creation table below it.

To edit the schedule, you first need to make a slot, which you do by selecting a color (which you can change later) and pushing 'Create New Slot'. Then you push 'Select Slot' next to the newly created slot. Then you may either start dragging the mouse on the grid of time and week days, or you can use the Begin and End select boxes and then push the button "Fill with Selected" to fill that time span with hte selected slot, or you can push "Erase" to make that time span be dark time for your sign. The grid will reflect the time spans with the colors of each slot. You can also click "Details" to see the details in text for all your time spans and slots.

To schedule darkness for the sign, just erase for that time. You can do this by either selecting the 'Erase to Dark' radio button at the top left of the screen and drag along the time you wish for Darkness, or you can push the "Erase" button to erase the currect time span in the select boxes Begin to End. In Darkness mode, the sign display will be dark and less power will be consumed, but the sign will continue to check for changes online, but will not download any media. However, it will still download changes to the schedule and when it starts up again, it will play the schedule for that time.

When you copy a Schedule template to a sign, and then click the sign's 'Slots', the middle column in the Dashboard will show a list of all the slots for that sign. Slots are for assigning Presentations to. Each slot should point to a Presentation. Changes to any presentation become immediate when that presentation is published.

Presentation Configuration

After you create a Presentation name, click on that name in the column 'Your Presentations' in the Dashbaord. This brings you to the Presentation Builder, where you decide layout, number of zones and zone types, upload media, assign media to zones, save your data, and publish your presentation.

The first thing to do on the Presentation screen is Select Sign Orientation, and then Zone Layout. These configurations are to the upper right of the screen, and as follows:

Landscape

Portrait

What you select for Sign Orientation determines what you can have for Zone Layout. Once you have selected these, be sure to push Save to save your work, so that you don't lose it. Save often. Only when you push Publish does your presentation become visible to the sign. If it is already dragged onto a Slot, publishing will make the Presentation be available for download to the device immediately.

Next, you will notice that the canvas in the center of the screen has all the zones in proportion to the configuration you selected. You can drag zones to make them smaller and to move, but you cannot drag one zone over another. To make a zone bigger, you first must make room for it by making the other zones in the way smaller, or to drag them out of the way. Click on each zone and assign it a zone media type.

You may have 9 Picture zones, 1 Picture/Video zone, 1 clock zone, and 4 text message zones. Next you will want to upload content to put into your zones. Scroll down to do this. In the box below, you may upload JPEG images, AVI or MP4 videos with MP3 audio, and txt files with a single line of text for text message zones.

When it says it is complete, to see your media list, click "Get Media List" in the lower left box. This will show all your media for all your signs under your specific username.

To add media to a zone, first click that zone in the canvas above to make it yellow. Then click the "Select ..." link above the icon for that media item. Hovering the mouse over the link will show the name of that file. When you click the "Select ..." link, the name of that file will appear in the 'File to add:' Text box. If the media item is an image, you may select duration. Then select Position and click "Add to Zone" button, and you will see in the box below the canvas the list of media for the selected zone in play order.

Save regularly. If you make a mistake, you can revert to saved by pushing "Revert" or "Restore". When you have everything as you want it, click "Publish". Then click on Dashboard, click on a sign you wish to have the Presentation play. Click the sign's Slots, and drag the Presenstation name to that Slot.

You may have many signs sharing many Presentations. And you may have many devices all using the same Sign. In the final step, on your device, go to the menu screen, and select SignControl WAN and enter your Username and Signname and click Play to download and play the Presentation.

Internet Options

Basically, to enable WiFi, you need to disable the Ethernet in the LAN screen and enable the WiFi the WLAN screen. This is done in the menu section. You go to the LAN screen, and make the top left drop down say "Disable" and then exit with OK. Then in the WLAN screen, you make the top left drop down say "Enable" and then select your access point, enter your password, and click Restart to restart the internet. Wait about a minute or so for the IP addresses to show. Then exit with OK.

To enable Ethernet, you need to do the reverse. Go to the WLAN screen and make the top left drop down say "Disable". Then, make sure the ethernet cable is attached, and in the LAN screen, set the top left drop down to say "Enable". Then, exit with OK. And for best results, then turn off the device, wait about 10 seconds, and turn it back on. Go to the LAN screen and verify that you see IP addresses. Then exit out of LAN with Cancel and your internet should work.

Note that WiFi will not work if the LAN is enabled. And ethernet will not work if WLAN is enabled. This can be a little tricky and easy to forget. Hence, the first thing to do if internet does not work is to check that only the internet type you wish to use is enabled.